The five-month Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire was in tatters last night after Israel responded to missile attacks from Gaza with airstrikes that killed six Hamas militants.
The strikes, which continued deep into the night with rocket attacks on workshops in Gaza, came after dozens of missiles were fired from Gaza at Israeli targets, leaving one 22-year-old woman dead.
With some of the worst exchanges since a February truce threatening to spiral out of control, the US hastily scheduled a visit by Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state.
Washington tacked on a West Bank detour to a trip Ms Rice makes to Africa next week, in an effort to ensure that the latest violence does not undermine Israel’s Gaza withdrawal plan, due to start next month. A state department spokesman called for steps ”to restore order and calm”.
But Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, told his army yesterday to do whatever it takes to ensure that the Gaza pull-out goes smoothly. ”The pullout cannot commence under fire,” he told Israel’s Channel 2. ”We will take all steps against Islamic Jihad without any limitations. The response to terror acts will be strong and harsh.”
Israeli officials said its attacks were a message to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, that if he did not clamp down on militants in the runup to Israel’s withdrawal from settlements in Gaza and the West Bank, it would.
Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Mr Sharon, said: ”Hamas are labouring under the misapprehension that Israel is pulling out of Gaza because it is weak. We are going to stop this celebration and we are going to stop this rampant firing of missiles. We will not stop disengagement.”
Khaled Mashal, a Hamas leader based in Damascus, said before yesterday’s strikes that Hamas would abandon its ceasefire if Israel attacked its members.
The first Israeli attack killed two people in Salfit in the West Bank and the second killed four in a van carrying missiles in Gaza City. The airstrikes followed gunfights in Gaza City as the Palestinian Authority tried to stop Hamas from firing missiles at Israel.
The Gaza fighting was the worst internecine clash in more than four years and the latest episode in a week of violence which has seen the deaths of six Israelis and 13 Palestinians.
On Tuesday, Islamic Jihad sent an 18-year-old to blow himself up in Netanya, killing five Israelis. By the end of the week, Israel re-entered the Gaza Strip and the Tulkarem area of the West Bank and Palestinian factions were fighting each other and Israel.
In response to the bombing, Israel killed a militant in Nablus who tried to escape arrest. Armed factions in Gaza retaliated by firing dozens of missiles and rockets at settlements in the Gaza Strip and communities in Israel.
In one of the barrages on Thursday, Dana Glakowitz, 22, was killed as she sat on her balcony in Nativ Haasara, north of Gaza.
Israeli officials said that if the PA did not take action to stop the missiles, Israel would. Within hours, Palestinian police tried to stop squads of militants firing missiles at Israeli targets. One group of policemen opened fire on a car containing Hamas gunmen, injuring six of them.
In response, Hamas supporters set fire to police cars and a police station. The two people killed were bystanders, as were most of the injured.
Hamas demanded the resignation of Nasser Yusef, the minister of the interior responsible for previous crackdowns on Hamas, yesterday. – Guardian Unlimited Â